Compression feeding device



Jan. 11,1927. F MICKA 1514378 RESSION FEEDING DEVICE Filed July 17. 19262 SheetsSheet 1 \I I I hfg li h, ll

Jan. 11,1927. F MICKA 1,614,378

COMPRESSION FEEDING DEVI GE Filed July 17, 1926 2.sh t sh t 2 PatentedJan. 11, 1927.

UNITED STATES FERDINAND MICKA, F NASHVILLE'TENNESSEE.

COMPRESSION FEEDING DEVICE.

Application filed July 17, 1926. Serial No. 123,156.

This invention relates to improvements in compression feeding devicesfor use in the manufacture of formula feeds for animal consumption, theinvention having for an object to provide a device of this character bymeans of which the matter passing through the same will be subjected tocompression of a degree sufficient to maintain a uniform ribbon-likestream of material of even density from the device.

It is also an equally important object of the invention to provide acompression feeding device wherein means are utilized for conveying thematerial from the storage bin to the feeder hopper and into the path ofan adjustable compressing means functioning to so compress said materialand to regulate its flow from the discharge passage in a manner toproduce an even and uniform ribbon-like outflow of the required density.

It is also among the aims and objects of the invention to provide thedischarge way of the feeder hopper with a novel means for permitting ofaccurate regulation" of the amount of material fed or delivered onto theconveying -means for delivery to the compression means.

Other objects of the invention will be in part obvious and in partpointed out here,- inafter.

In order that the invention and its mode of operation may be readilyunderstood by those skilled in the art, I have in the accompanyingillustrative drawings and in the detailed following description basedthereupon, set out one possible embodiment of the invention.

In these drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the improved compression feeding device,

Figure 2 is an end elevation of the same,

Figure 3 is a vertical longitudinal section therethrough,

Figure 4 is a fragmentary detail in side elevation showing the manner inwhich mo tion is transmitted to the compression means from the conveyormeans, and

Figure 5 is a vertical transverse fragmentary section through one endportion of the device.

Having more particular reference to the drawings in connection withwhich like characters of reference will designate corresponding partsthroughout, the improved device may be stated to comprise a supportingmeans or body portion generally designated at this time by the numeral1, said body portion being of substantially rectangular configurationand affording a casing or housing for receiving the working parts of thedevice; the upper portion of one end of the body 1 being provided withextensions 1 fixedly receiving therebetween a feeder hopper 2, the lowerend of which is open while an opening is formed in the lower portion ofone side wall thereof as is indicated by the numeral 3; a suitable formof agitator 4 being rotatably mounted within the lower portion of thefeeder hopper 2 for obvious purposes. The opposite end and lower portionof the body portion 1 is provided with a discharge way or chute 5 havingbranch discharge portions or legs 6 and 7 communicating therewith fromwhich discharge spouts 8 and 9 are extended. To permit of the selectivedirection of compressed material through either of the discharge spouts8 or 9, a flap valve 10 is horizontally pivoted as at 11 within aportion of the way 5 and is of such size as to close the inner end ofeither of the said spouts 8 or 9 with swinging of the same to itsseveral adjusted positions as is shown in full and in dotted lines inthe Figure 3. To facilitate this pivotal movement of the valve 10whereby to control communication between the way 5 and either of thedischarge spouts 8 or 9, the pivot pin 11 mounting the valve 10 isextended and has a suitable crank handle 12 fixedly mounted thereuponand eXteriorly of the way 5.

Relatively spaced endless conveyor belt wheels 13 and 14 are mounted inthe opposite ends of the body portion 1 upon shafts 15 and 16; the shaft15 having its opposite ends journaled in bearings 17 slidably mounted inslots or ways provided therefor in adjacent portions of the oppositeside wallsof said body 1 and being adapted to have adjusting motionimparted thereto through v the medium of adjusting screws 18 turned intoengagement with fixed portions receiving the'adjustable bearings 17 andadapted to have engagement with parts of said bearings 17 whereby withrotation of such screws, adjusting movement will be imparted to therespective bearings, thus effecting longitudinal adjustment of the beltwheel 13 with respect to the body portion 1. Also, one end of theshaft'15 is extended beyond one side of the body 1 and has a sprocket wheel19 fixedly mounted thereon, the purpose of which will be hereinaftermore fully described.

The belt wheel 14 carried upon the shaft 16 is, as hereiubeforestated,mounted in the opposite end of the body portion 1 and its shaft 16 isjournaled in fixed bearings pro-- vided therefore in the opposite sidewalls of said body 1; the opposite ends of said shaft 16 being extendedto points beyond the outer faces of the opposite side walls of the body1, one end having a driven sprocket wheel 20 and a driving sprocketwheel 21 fixedly mounted thereupon, the latter sprocket wheelbeing of adiameter greater than the former, while the opposite end of this shaftlGhas a pulley wheel 22 fixedly mounted thereon and adapted to receiveanendless belt 23 thereabout, the purpose of which will be presentlydescribed.

A sprocket chain 24 is engaged about the sprocket wheels 19 and 20 andas will be appreciated, serves to effect a driving connection as betweenthe driven sprocket wheel 20 and the sprocketvwheel 19, thus permittingof the transmission of rotary motion to the several shafts 15 and 16fixedlycarrying their respective belt wheels 13 and 14:. To effect anautomatic take up ofslack intthe sprocket chain 24-, whiehis of theendless type, an idler take up deviee'25 is mounted upon the outer,portion of the adjacentside wall-of the body 1 and isadapted to haveitsfree end engaged with an adjacent portion of said chain 24 in the mannerclearly shown in the Figural. Furthermore, it will be understood in thisdirection that slack in the endless sprocket chain 24z may be furtherrelieved by longitudinal adjustment of the ad just'a'ble bearings 17receiving the shaft 15 of the belt wheel 13.

That the material deliveredfrom the low,- er portion of the feederhopper2 into the bodyportion of the'device may be conveyed to the compressionmeans, hereinafter described, an endless belt conveyor 26 is engagedaboutthe belt wheels 13 and 14 and is disposed longitudinally of theintermediate portion ofthe body 1, the upper side of said belt passingover a table or board 27 fixedly supported in the upper portionof saidbody 1 in the manner shown inthe Figure 3.

Transversely spaced and aligned standards 28 are fixed to the oppositeside walls of the body portion 1 and extend for distances above the sameas is shown in the Figures 1 and 3; the intermediate portions of saidstandards having arcuate slots 29 formed therein while a bar or rod 30is fixedly mounted between the upper ends of such standards and has ascrew threaded opening formed in its intermediate portion receiving thescrew threaded shaft or rod 31 therethrough. the upper end of which isprovided with a fixedly mounted crank handle 32 while the lower endthereof is provided with a swivel head engaging the horizontal or basalportion of a substantial ly inverted U-shaped supporting frame 33, theopposite sides of which are arranged at!" jacent to and in parallelismwith the inner faces of the several standards 28.

Bearing fingers 34: are fixedly mounted upon the inward,vertical sideportions of the extensions 1 of the body portion 1 and have rotatablymounted therein a shaft 35 upon which a pulley wheel 36 is fixedlymounted, one end of said shaft being extended beyond the bearing andhaving a second pulley wheel 37' fixedly mounted thereon and receivingthe remaining endof the crossed endless belt 23 thereabout in the mannershown in the Figures 2 and 4;. Another pulley wheel 38, corresponding indiameter to that of the pulley wheel 36 is provided and as will be notedupon reference to the Figures l and, 4,, is fixedly mounted upon a shaft39, the opposite ends of which are journaled in bearings formed in thefree ends of, supporting bars L-O disposed longitudinally oftthe bodyportion 1 and arranged in, substantially. parallelism to the oppositeside walls thereof; the opposite ends of said bars being pivotallymounted upon the shaft 35, aforesaid.

The extremities of the shaft 39 are extended andslidably received in thearcuate slots or ways 29 in the standards 28 and thus, it will beappreciated that when said extended ends of the shaft 39 are in theirlowermost positions with respect to'the slots 29, they will be supportedin their lowermost positions with respectto the standards 28.

The extremities of the inverted U-shaped element 33 are loosely engagedwith the adjacent portions of theshaft 39 and consequently upon this, itis to'be understood that with rotation of the screw threaded adjustingshaft or rod 31, said pulley wheel may. be raised or lowered to thedesired extent.

A. form of partition 41 is preferably supported between the pulleys 36and 38 while an endless conveyor belt 12 is disposed about the same andis adapted to be moved there over with the transmission of rotary motionto, the shaft 35 from the driven pulley wheel 37.

With a view toward providing means for controlling and regulating oradjusting'the discharge of material onto the endless conveyor belt 26, aslidable gate valve 43 is mounted adjacent the opening 3 in the feederhopper 2 and when in its lower position, serves to reduce the dischargeof material onto the said belt 26 to minimum; the upper portion of saidgate valve being provided with a suitable operating device, indicated ina fashion herein and referred to by the numeral 44. Also, a regulatingor adjusting gate valve 15 is provided the hop per 2 and as will benoted upon reference to the Figure 3, the lower portion of thisparticular gate valve is curved outwardly as indicated at 16 while theupper portion of the same is provided with a longitudinally disposedrack 17, the teeth of which are adapted to be engaged or to mesh withthe teeth of apinion 48 fixedly mounted upon a shaft- 49 disposedtransversely of the adjacent end of said hopper 2 and mounted insuitable bearings in adjacent portions of theextensions 1; a hand wheel50 being fixedly mounted upon an extended end of said shaft 4-9 andserving for an obvious purpose. Thus, it will be understood that byrotating the hand wheel 50, rotation of the pinion 1-8 will be effectedand due to its meshing with the rack 17, the regulating gate valve 4-5will be either raised or lowered with respect to the endless beltconveyor 26 whereby to regulate to the desired nicety, the depth andflow of the material from the open portion 3 of the hopper 2 onto saidendless conveyor belt 26, it being understood in this connection thatwith functioning of the curved lower portion 1 6 of the regulating gatevalve 45, that the control gate valve 43 has been previously moved toits open or raised position.

To prevent the falling of material from over the edges of the belt 26into engagement with the bearing of the belt wheel 13, resulting indeterioration of the moving parts, I may and preferably do slightlyreduce the interior cross sectional area of the hopper 2, after thefashion shown in the Figure 5, while the lower portion of the body 1 isenlarged and thus. provides opposed shoulders 51 below which theperipheral portion of said pulley wheel 13 is adapted to be arranged,while the upper side of the endless conveyor belt 26 is arrangedimmediately below said shoulders and therefore, it will be understoodthat such shoulders have overlapping relation to the opposite sideportions of the belt and consequently, that the falling of material overthe edges of the belt and onto the bearings of said belt wheel will beavoided.

The operation of the improved compression feeding device may be statedto be as follows:

Material of the desired formula is dis charged into the hopper 2 fromstorage bin. [at this time, motion isbeing imparted to the endless beltconveyors 26 and 42 through the medium of their respective belt andpulley wheels; it being understood that power is transmitted to thedevice through V the medium of the larger sprocket wheel 21. At thistime, the screw threaded rdtl 31 is turned or adjusted whereby to effectproper vertical positioning or adjustment of the pulley wheel 38 aboutwhich one end of the endless belt conveyor 42 passes. With the securingof proper adjustment, the control gate valve 43 is raised to its fullopen position whereupon the hand wheel 50 is rotated to effect thedesired vertical adjustment of the curved lower portion 16 of theregulating gate valve 45. At this time, the material will flow in aneven and uniform stream from the hopper-2 onto the longitudinally movingendless conveyor belt 26, being carried by said belt forwardly and intoengagement with the similarly moving endless conveyor belt 42 of thecompression means of the device, whereat it is subjected to compressionby the vertically adjusted pulley wheel 38, this resulting in thedischarge of an even and uniform ribbon-like flow of material of evendensity into the discharge way 5 of the device. One of the spoutscommunicating with the discharge way 5 is adapted to communicate with afeed mixing device while the remaining spout (the spout 9) is adapted toserve as a means for permitting of the sampling or testing of thecompressed material delivered into the discharge way 5. In thisconnection, it will be understood tlfat by effecting shifting of theflap valve 10 from that position as shown in full lines; to the positionshown in dotted lines in the Figure 3, the discharge of material will bediverted to the discharge spout 9 whereas when the flap valve 10 is inthat position as shown in full lines in the said Figure 3, the dischargeof material will be then effected through the discharge spout 9 fortesting or sampling purposes.

Manifestly, the construction shown is capable of considerablemodification and such modification as is within the scope of my claim Iconsider within the spirit of my invention.

I claim:

A device of the character described comprising a supporting means,conveying means disposed longitudinally of the same and a portion ofsaid conveying means being adjustable, a hopper upon the supportingmeans adjacent one end thereof having a discharge opening in one sidethereof communicat-ing with the conveying means, a control gate valveslidably mounted upon one side of the hopper adjacent the dischargeopening therein and for vertical movement with respect to the same, aregulating valve overlying said gate valve and mounted for verticalsliding movement with respect to the discharge opening in the hopper,-the lower end of said regulating valve being curved outwardly and inadirection away from tle hopper, and manually operable the sameindependently of the control valve. 10

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

FERDINAND MI'GKA.

